Gurney Weslake for real!

[Brian Kissel]

Martin

What kind of issues did you have with the Dart block ?? I have used a couple of their blocks and all went well. I would like to know whats up before I buy my next block.

Kindest Regards
Brian

 

[Charlie Farley]

Martin,

Firstly, what displacement is your Dart block ?
What crank & rods did you opt for ?
Which cam did you go with ?
Whose rocker set did you go with ?

I ask, as i'm sitting on a set of heavily modified GW heads and a 289 block
and wonder which way to go.

Thanks for any help.

Andrew.

 

[Dave Wood]

Martin,

Whose rocker set did you go with ?

I ask, as i'm sitting on a set of heavily modified GW heads and a 289 block
and wonder which way to go.

Thanks for any help.

Andrew.

My recollection , which is from when they were produced, is that they use what were once Y-block rocker assemblies. They share the same bore spacing as the Windsors and were shaft mounted and adjustable. Now, that may have been in development, but I believe that is what were used. There is a big Y-block site that offers some trick stuff for that old slug and some of the stuff is rocker assemblies. Pushrods??, that's another thing, the 289/302 is extremely short (in height) and the Y pushrods wouldn't work, although they may be able to be shortened. Speedy Bill( at Speedway motors) has an engine museum with one of the few Y-blocks that used G-W heads. I never saw any in the U.S. but they were used in Argentina in the late 60s when the Y-block was still in production down there.

 

[David Briggs]

Martin, that engine should be perfect in that chassis, hopefully worth the price of admission!
Dave

 

[MWGT40]

Martin

What kind of issues did you have with the Dart block ?? I have used a couple of their blocks and all went well. I would like to know whats up before I buy my next block.

Kindest Regards
Brian

Brian

First of all let me say I am not an engine expert. However, what I can tell you is that three different engine builders warned me about issues with using the Dart block. They all said that when they are sorted they are fine, but they require a lot of work (and expense) to get them to work. In my case, Dart told Jay that the engine was in stock and ready to ship when it wasn't. That was the first issue, but relatively minor. Then when it arrived at Jay's place, it required a lot of machining to get it ready (and this should not have been the case).

When the engine was rebuilt by Peter Knight, the block was sent away to the machine shop to be relined and also to have bronze oil gallery sleeves fitted. According to Peter's experience, every Dart aluminium Ford block he has ever used has cracked the oil gallery between the gallery & water jacket, mixing oil & water.

I hope this helps.

Regards

Martin

 

[MWGT40]

I had some business dealings with Peter Knight several years ago. He always impressed me as being quite intelligent as well as a straight shooter. Glad to hear that he's still in business.

Peter is a great guy, very professional, and always delivers. I highly recommend him

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

If you were going to build one of these now, knowing what you do, which block WOULD you use, and what rotating assembly etc etc?

Are there any comparisons of GW heads to modern high flow heads like Yates and AFRs etc? I know for their time they were very very good, but hasn't technology caught up with them?

 

[Dave Wood]

I would have edited my last post if I had remembered sooner, but it was the Tunnel Port heads that used the Y-block rocker assemblies, not the G-W heads. They are my 2 favorite 60s SB heads, but they were the only 2 that were anything special, and I confused the appointments of the two.
I do have some old G-W tech stuff, I am now curious as to what type rockers were used.

 

[Charlie Farley]

David,
Nobody asked about the Y yaa yaa yaa, both Jim and i asked other specific questions.
Related to Weslake heads.Those are the answers we are interested in .
i will post yet again :

Martin,

Firstly, what displacement is your Dart block ?
What crank & rods did you opt for ?
Which cam did you go with ?
Whose rocker set did you go with ?

 

[MWGT40]

Martin,

Firstly, what displacement is your Dart block ?
What crank & rods did you opt for ?
Which cam did you go with ?
Whose rocker set did you go with ?

I ask, as i'm sitting on a set of heavily modified GW heads and a 289 block
and wonder which way to go.

Thanks for any help.

Andrew.

1. Engine displacement: 364cu.in. or 6.0 litres 4.125 x 3.400
2. Crank & rods are Eagle
3. JE pistons.
4. Cam is the nearest thing out of the Comp Cams catalogue to the Crane cam Cushman used, which seemed to work OK, but was not in reusable condition.
5. Peter has specific cam grinds for the Gurney and went with what seemed to work best.
6. Rocker set is T&D. They only use the arms, make their own shafts & heavily modify the roller & oiling system on the rockers. They have found the out of the box T&D's had a very short life, so they needed to do something else.

Peter has made quite a bit of stuff for these engines as they have been building & racing them for a few years now.

Regards

Martin

 

[MWGT40]

Hi

Well I finally got to test my GTD at Ascari with the Gurney Weslake fitted. The car performed very well (so thanks Jeff and Frank at Wealden Engineering) - in fact the instructor who also sets up cars at Ascari said that it was the "best car he had driven at Ascari" and much more fun than the modern cars he is used to driving.

Here is some footage of when we were testing for your enjoyment. Crank up the volume!

YouTube - Ford GT40 testing at Ascari


Martin